Blocket is a leading online marketplace, a “Swedish eBay” if you will. In an interview in August last year, the Managing Director of Blocket said that “This year products for 100 billion kronor will be advertised at Blocket.”

This quote has turned into a corporate myth interpreted so that products worth 100 billion kronor were sold at Blocket. N24 writes that “products worth 100 million kronor are sold at Blocket each year”. DagensPS writes that “Blocket has a turnover of 100 milllion kronor”, and bloggers comment along the same lines. But that is not the case. I can put my summer house up for sale at Blocket for 1 million kronor, but if no-one buys it it will not add to Blocket’s turnover any more than if I had advertised my left sock, which no-one bought.

The myth is now back in the news, starting yesterday with N24 (they get it right later on in the article) and followed by bloggers here. As N24 notes, Blocket’s competitor Tradera actually sold goods worth 1 billion kronor last year, and it is very unlikely that Blocket is 100 times bigger.

To compare, H&M; are aiming at a turnover of 100 billion kronor in the near future.